June 18th Meeting Recap
The June 18th meeting at Lucille Brown This post is a summary of the major takeaways from the June 18th orientation meeting at Lucille Brown Middle School - NOTE: this is forward looking NOT a forum on all the missteps leading up to the meeting. There is a page for that here. The Slideshow for tonights meeting is below. : Major Takeaway #1: IF YOU HAVE A RISING 6th GRADER THAT IS GOING INTO THE IB PROGRAM AT LUCILLE BROWN MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUR CHILD GETS NO BENEFIT FROM TAKING ADVANCED MATH I - AS HE OR SHE WILL BE GETTING THAT ADVANCED INSTRUCTION DURING THE NEXT YEAR IN IB. '''(Although, stay tuned as this info might help you for next year) (also - even though it was not my fault - i am sorry for all you parents who schlepped out to the meeting for no reason) : '''Major Takeaway #2: TIME SENSITIVE: '''Just because you got a letter in May saying your child is elidgible for advanced math and/or turned it in to your school on time AND/OR got a letter from RPS about this meeting it '''DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOUR ARE ENROLLED. '''If you are getting this '''tonight - email Aaron Dixon, Mathematics Instructional Specialist adixon2 [ at ] richmond.k12.va.us and he will confirm whether or not your child is enrolled. NOTE: Mr. Dixon took his lumps tonight even as a representative of the school and volunteered to do this tonight - and I'd guess he's not to blame for the mess - so go easy on him. : If he confirms that your child has NOT been enrolled - he is unable to enroll them YOUR SCHOOL MUST ENROLL THEM SO CONTACT YOUR PRINCIPAL (FROM YOUR SCHOOL YOUR LAST SCHOOL YEAR NOT YOUR NEW SCHOOL NEXT YEAR) - ASAP. '''Note - they will need to confirm all the requirements for enrollment (grades, test scores, recommendation letter from Math teacher - see slide show from tonight) : If you are unable to email him tonight OR you read this too late - i guess you can contact him OR contact your principal. I don't have a deadline for when this registration needs to be completed - BUT i'd assume it is ASAP. : '''Major Takeway #3: Whether your child plans on going the ONLINE or '''in-class option, at the end of the term THEY '''MUST take the test on July 29th, July 30th, July 31st or August 1st''' IN PERSON''' (I think at Binford or Lucille Brown - anyone?). To be crystal clear - there is NO ONL'INE option for taking this test (it is called the "Post Test") The teachers/proctors will be available from 8am till 11am those days - since the students can take the full time to take the test is HIGHLY recommended that you bring your student in at 8am but no later than 11am b/c the teachers are done at 1pm. ::: ''This is problematic for MANY parents as 1. their students have plans to be out of town during testing and 2. we just found out about this requirement despite earler info (see UPDATE in the Communications Breakdown post) : 'Major Takeaway #4: '''the form on the second page of this letter (that many of us got yesterday) needs to be filled out and r'eturned TOMORROW Wednesday June 19th - scan and email it to Ms Crenshaw at: mcrensha at richmond.k12.va.us or fax to 648-6075 (ATTN: AARON DIXON) : '''Major Takeaway #5: '''the materials, passwords, information for the ONLINE course will be available, preferably IN PERSON on July 1st and no earlier (but apparently anytime after that) at Binford or Lucille Brown. More info is coming on all of this. SLIDE SHOW FROM TONIGHT frankly - for now, the meat of this presentation are slides #1 - #6 - and the contact slided at the end. The rest is the outline of the curriculum - which will come in handy later I am sure. There are other pieces of info that I (Steve Cummings) will try to post here but they are not the critical stuff above and my volunteer coordinator needs me to do the dishes.